PrivatAir The Magazine Spring 2012 by Sonja Mueller

THE MAGAZINE

SPRING 2012

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TO BREAK THE RULES, YOU MUST FIRST MASTER THEM. THE WATCH THAT BROKE ALL THE RULES, REBORN FOR 2012. IN 1972, THE ORIGINAL ROYAL OAK SHOCKED THE WATCHMAKING WORLD AS THE FIRST HAUTE HOROLOGY SPORTS WATCH TO TREAT STEEL AS A PRECIOUS METAL. TODAY THE NEW ROYAL OAK COLLECTION STAYS TRUE TO THE SAME PRINCIPLES SET OUT IN LE BRASSUS ALL THOSE YEARS AGO: “BODY OF STEEL, HEART OF GOLD”. OVER 130 YEARS OF HOROLOGICAL CRAFT, MASTERY AND EXQUISITE DETAILING LIE INSIDE THIS ICONIC MODERN EXTERIOR; THE ALWAYS PURPOSEFUL ROYAL OAK ARCHITECTURE NOW EXPRESSED IN 41MM DIAMETER. THE AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK: CELEBRATING 40 YEARS.

ROYAL OAK

IN STAINLESS STEEL. ACTURE SELFWINDING MANUFACTURE MOVEMENT.

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IN THIS ISSUE

P R I VAT FA S H I O N Wear this season’s fresh, clean sorbet hues with a rock-chic attitude

IMAGE © OLIVER PILCHER

Gaze top o by Tibi at Harvey Nichols; tweed sui tweed suitt by Cha Chanel nel;; leat leather gglove ov s b Dents by ts at Har Harrod ods; sue suede de hee heelss by b Alexan Ale xander der Mc M Que Queen en;; thr threeee-dia diamon mond d brooch, worn o on o th he lape lapel,l, by De Bee ers r ; mate t lassé bag by b Cha Ch nell

Seven

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Fabergé’s sparkling jewellery nods to its former Romanov connection, page 64

P R I VAT D I A R Y

Jacqueline Detwiler on Alex Katz’s prints exhibition at Boston’s Fine Art Museum

P R I VAT D R I V E

Charles Armstrong-Wilson champions classic cars as the latest sound investment

P R I VAT S E L E C T I O N

Timothy Barber profiles complicated watches that chart the stars and phases of the moon

P R I VAT D I N I N G

London’s restaurant scene attracts the world’s best chefs – we look at the latest hopefuls

P R I VAT D E S I G N

Mark C. O’Flaherty on why Brazilian modernism is no longer just an insider secret

P R I VAT P E R S O N

Jennifer Sharp meets Hilary Weston, a dynamic billionaire devoted to charity

P R I VATA R T

Claire Adler showcases the latest trend for jewellery and watches displayed as art

THE MAGAZINE

P R I VATJ E W E L S

P R I VAT T R AV E L

Cover: multiple 208-second exposures of the sky above Yosemite National Park, California. More cosmic inspiration can be found in our articles on astronomical timepieces, on page 22, and space tourism, on page 70

Ian Henderson on private trips to space, which may start as early as next year

P R I VAT E S C A P E

Rory Ross learns the art of animal tracking at the South African resort Royal Malewane

P R I VATA I R News and developments at PrivatAir

SPRING 2012

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Vivienne Becker looks back at Fabergé’s tumultuous history and glittering rebirth

PHOTO © HELEN CATHCART COVER IMAGE © GETTY

Royal Malewane is the resort that redefined the luxury safari, page 76

13/03/2012 14:17

Eight

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Connecting buyers and sellers throughout the world. As the only luxury real estate organization wholly owned by a fine art auction house, Christie’s International Real Estate is the leading network of real estate professionals who embody the trust, integrity, and expertise of one of the most respected names in the world. Through an exclusive suite of marketing programs, Christie’s International Real Estate and its Affiliated brokerages offer an incomparable level of service and lead generation, attracting a global audience of qualified buyers. For real estate inquiries: For art inquiries:

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London +44 20 7389 2551 +44 20 7839 9060

New York +1 212 468 7182 +1 212 636 2000

Hong Kong +852 2978 6788 +852 2521 5396

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P R I VAT C O N T R I B U T O R S

CONTRIBUTORS

SPRING

EDITOR

Michael Keating A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R

Claire Martin D E S I G N D I R E C T O R

Julia Murray P I C T U R E E D I T O R

Julia Holmes F A S H I O N D I R E C T O R

Nino Bauti SUB-EDITOR

Steve Handley

M AR K C O’FLAHERT Y

OWEN GILDERSLEEVE

Mark C. O’Flaherty is a writer and photographer for the FT, Elle, Sunday Times, Tatler and AD, covering design, travel and fashion. His work has appeared in numerous books on interiors and fashion. In the last six months he has been on assignment in Brazil, France, Lebanon, Malaysia and Cambodia.

Designer, illustrator and set maker, Owen Gildersleeve’s work explores a range of hand-crafted techniques and styles, which he creates from his studio in London. Since graduating in 2008, Owen has collaborated with an array of international clients and had his work exhibited worldwide.

PRODUCTION

Ana Vazquez REPROGRAPHICS

KFR Reprographics PRINTING

Taylor Bloxham LOGISTIC S

www.goferslogistics.com SA L E S M A N AG E R

Sonja Müller +44 (0)20 7613 8766 sonja.mueller@ink-global.com GROUP PUBLISHER

Stefan Bartsch P U B L I S H I N G D I R E C T O R

Simon Leslie C H I E F O P E R AT I N G O F F I C E R

Hugh Godsal CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Jeffrey O’Rourke PUBLISHED BY

Ink, www.ink-global.com

CL A IR E AD LER

IAN HE NDE R SON

London-based freelance journalist and writer Claire Adler specialises in jewellery, watches and luxury travel. She writes regularly for the FT and her work has also appeared in Vanity Fair, the Washington Post and Sunday Times. She also does consultancy work for a number of luxury brands.

A regular contributor to the Telegraph, Ian Henderson writes for both UK and international media about travel, as well as business and brands. He also has another life in advertising. Ian likes bikes, boats and mountains, but his favourite place in the world is a hammock in Spain.

PrivatAir SA Chemin des Papillons 18 PO Box 572, 1215 Geneva 15 Telephone +41 (0)22 929 6700 Fax +41 (0)22 929 6701 info@privatair.com www.privatair.com © Ink. All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without prior permission from the publisher. Opinions expressed in PrivatAir the Magazine are not necessarily those of PrivatAir

ILLUSTRATIONS © JAMES CAREY AT DEBUTART

FOR

Te n

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Online Trading with full transparency, security and quality of a Swiss bank.

MIG BANK, the largest Swiss bank specializing in online Trading, again raises industry standards by offering it’s revolutionary fully transparent dealing model in Forex, CFDs and Bullion. You can trade currencies, indices and commodities and take advantage of our unique 100% transparent dealing model, multi-feed liquidity, execution at best market price, exclusive research and much more. Trading online with full transparency, security and quality of a Swiss bank means you can trade with confidence. This is not an offer or solicitation for products in any jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation would be restricted or prohibited. Investments and trading in leveraged products like FX and CFDs carry a high degree of risk.

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Confidence is Capital. Route des Gouttes d’Or 14 2008 Neuchâtel, Switzerland

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P R I VAT D I A R Y

Mixed Messages The MFA Boston shows Alex Katz, whose work treads the line between character study and abstraction, commercial and fine art. Jacqueline Detwiler reports

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Flat, not flattering: Blue Hat (2003-04) by Alex Katz

THERE IS A COOL ABOUT ALEX KATZ A DASH OF Madison Avenue ad man to his bohemian artist. He is Hopper with flair, Warhol before Warhol, the kind of personality you suspect could size you up over a quick scotch and soda, and then render just about everything there is to know about you in a wash of beige with a couple of well-placed red lines. Such character sketches as Alex and Ada: Orange Hat – Katz’s wife and muse in profile under a broad expanse of orange headwear – will be on display this spring at an exhibit dedicated to the artist, who turns 85 this year, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Most of the pieces will be slightly smaller prints of Katz’s mammoth canvases, bold visions of family members and landscapes in his flat, colourful style, which anticipated pop art. ‘He’s a real downtown, New York artist,’ says Cliff Ackley, chair of MFA Boston’s Prints, Drawings and Photographs department, who first met Katz when he was selected for the inaugural show in the museum’s Lois and Michael Torf Gallery in 1984. ‘He’s very influenced by everything that goes on there: advertising, fashion, photography, television and film.’ Katz, who has lived in SoHo since buying a loft there in 1968, is at the very least inspired by the idiosyncrasies of New Yorkers themselves. Many of his paintings focus on clothing choices or close-cropped facial expressions; often, it’s these simple details that define the piece. ‘We are almost a socially classless society and yet we are clearly separated by taste,’ Katz has written. ‘People dress to make themselves attractive, to present an image that announces who they accept socially and who they do not. If one paints people, it seems a shame to generalise about these distinctions.’ Fittingly, then, the centrepiece of the exhibit will be a collection of 37 real and imaginary silhouetted heads, in full party regalia, painted on aluminium and placed side-by-side in a single room. Called Rush, the piece is an installation Katz donated last year as part of his longstanding relationship with the museum. Though two-dimensional, the heads are situated at eye level, and many of them, including Al Held, Yvonne Jacquette and Rudy Burckhardt, are recognisable as minor art world celebrities of 40 years ago. ‘Viewing it is sort of like walking into a very exclusive cocktail party in 1970 or so,’ says Ackley, who gives the impression of being a little less of a social butterfly than Katz himself. ‘I think it would be a bit uncanny to be surrounded by them all.’ Katz, it’s clear, wouldn’t be intimidated a bit. Alex Katz Prints, 28 April – 29 July, www.mfa.org PHOTOGRAPH © ALBERTINA VIENNA PETER ERTL ART © ALEX KATZ/LICENSED BY VAGA NEW YORK NY

Thirteen

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H I S T O R I A D O R 18 cts rose gold, hand winding movement

THE ONLY SWISS LUXURY WATCH WITH A LATIN SOUL

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P R I VAT D I A R Y

Leader of the Pack A new museum in Modena, the birthplace of Enzo Ferrari, illustrates the life of this auto legend, says Anwer Bati

PHOTO SIPA PRESS / REX FEATURES

FEW DOMINATE THE HISTORY OF MOTOR sports more than Ferrari’s ambitious founder, so it was only a matter of time before a museum that paid homage to Enzo Ferrari passed the chequered flag. The Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari, which celebrates his life as a racing car driver, auto lover and entrepreneur, opened in mid-March in Modena, the beautiful city in northern Italy. The local area is famously called Supercar Valley – Maserati, Bugatti, Pagani, De Tomaso, Lamborghini and, of course, Ferrari all started here. The Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari is spread over two buildings, including the house where Enzo Ferrari was born in 1898. Unlike the Museo Ferrari in nearby Maranello, this museum focuses on the man behind the brand rather than on the cars. ‘It is with great satisfaction that, after years of intense work, we have inaugurated this important cultural asset,’ says Mauro Tedeschini, president of the Fondazione Casa di Enzo Ferrari. ‘The museum will tell the world the story of this great figure.’ Ferrari’s former home features exhibits and multimedia displays documenting his life: from cutting his teeth as a racing car driver for littleknown (and now defunct) Italian auto company CMN, to making his name on the track with Alfa Romeo in the 1920s and 30s, and the moment he channelled his passions into creating a racing car bearing his name in 1947. The €18m museum that sits next to Ferrari’s home was designed by London-based Future Systems, recognised for its technology-based approach to architecture. Sadly visionary Jan Kaplicky, Future Systems’ founder, passed away before he could see the completion of his design, built in the shape of a car bonnet. The aluminium roof is painted in Ferrari’s iconic Modena yellow. Inside the museum, dramatic curved spaces feature great Italian dream cars displayed like works of art and themed exhibitions, including the opening show, The Origins of the Myth. www.museocasaenzoferrari.it

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Avant Garden La Residencia’s first sculptor in residence has made his mark with a magnificent sculpture garden in the Mallorca hotel’s grounds

THE BEAUTIFUL BALEARICS HAVE INSPIRED many artists over the years, and none more so than the island of Mallorca. This is the haven that Joan Miró fell in love with while hiding from Franco’s mainland fascist forces, and where he created some of his most powerful work. ‘I invent nothing, it’s all here! That is why I have to live here!’ he famously told a German writer who visited him on the island in 1956. And Miró wasn’t the only artist inspired by Mallorca’s rugged landscape: Picasso worked here, and actors Alec Guinness and Peter Ustinov were also inspired. The small, picturesque coastal village of Deià is particularly alluring thanks to its idyllic location between the Tramuntana Mountains and glittering Mediterranean Sea. Juan Waelder, a Chilean sculptor, has called Mallorca home since the 70s, and last year was named as island five-star La Residencia’s first sculptor in residence. The hotel already has an in-house art gallery, Sa Tafona, with work by more than 85 artists with a connection to northern Mallorca and an artist in residence, the well-respected British artist Alan Hynes.

This March, Waelder revealed his first big project: a vast permanent sculpture garden in the hotel’s 32-acre grounds. ‘As soon as I saw the incredible garden I realised there was a necessity to do something different,’ he says. ‘But I didn’t want to simply display my own work, so I invited other artists to display their sculptures too.’ Originally Waelder viewed the garden as a platform for up-and-coming artists, but once he outlined his vision, a number of his contemporaries wanted to get involved. ‘I presented the idea to fellow artists at the Guggenheim in Bilbao and I’ve been getting offers non-stop,’ he says. Sculptures by local craftsmen from the villages surrounding La Residencia to internationally respected names including Betty Gold from Texas (left) and the late Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza are dotted around the garden. ‘The wide variety of art and artists will give a true sense of what sculpture means today,’ says Waelder. ‘You can’t put these sculptures in an art gallery. There’s not enough room, and an open space like this is a natural environment for sculpture.’ www.hotel-laresidencia.com

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P R I VAT D R I V E

Driving Market THE

Classic marques such as pre-war Bentleys and vintage Ferraris are the latest investment vehicle, says Charles Armstrong-Wilson

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FINDING GOOD PLACES TO PUT YOUR money is tough these days, but one market that is currently streets ahead is cars. I don’t mean the shiny, high-tech marvels that roll off production lines by the thousand every day, I mean premium classic, vintage collector’s cars. They might be considered a finite commodity, but with continuous demand and vibrant trading, classic cars have all the requirements of a sound investment – and a market that’s worth around $17.5bn. Why have premium cars survived the recession so well? Max Girardo of US classiccar auction house RM explains: ‘If your broker told you your portfolio was going to lose 20

per cent in value over the next couple of years, most investors would bail out very quickly. Classic cars are different. The market is led by passion and people who want to own these vehicles. When the forecast is unpromising, most owners will hang on to their investments and ride out the bad spell. This creates a stable market that is not susceptible to rapid fluctuations.’ Tim Schofield of UK auction house Bonhams is slightly more reticent. ‘I admit that the right cars bought at the right time can be a very good investment but I don’t like to bang the drum about it,’ he says – and with good reason. Many will remember the boom

of the 1980s when classic cars became the next big commodity to invest in. It quickly turned into a dotcom boom-style feeding frenzy. ‘Cars were being traded maybe six times in a year and everyone took a profit along the way,’ says Schofield. A great deal of money was sunk into cars that either did not have the potential or were simply not what they were claimed to be. When the economic crash came in 1990, investors desperately tried to extract their capital, creating a glut in the market and a massive fall in prices. Curiously, despite the current financial downturn, today’s classic car market has come through virtually unscathed. Many experts believe that the wisdom hard-won

Nineteen

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P R I VAT D R I V E

‘ The market is led by passion and people who want to own these vehicles. When the forecast is unpromising, most owners will hang on to their investments’

Previous page: the beautiful and popular Jaguar E-Type Roadster from 1961. Above: The Bugatti T57S Atlante from 1937 – a solid investment

in the 1990s still pervades the industry. Schofield’s caution is neither uncommon nor unwarranted. ‘Nobody wants to see a return to 1990,’ he says. Schofield does, however, admit that cars trading for more than £200,000 have done well over the last three years. Provided they are bought wisely, are in excellent condition and are everything they claim to be, then owners have realised genuine growth on their investment. However, that umbrella term ‘investment car’ covers a host of complex areas all with their own idiosyncrasies. Max Girardo observes that cars from the 1950s and ’60s currently have the strongest market: think classic Ferraris and Aston Martins. Pre-war cars, such as Bugattis and vintage Bentleys, are perhaps the most stable. But the devil lies in the detail: not only will different models command very different prices, but two seemingly identical vehicles can have very different values. Provenance is vital and a very original car with continuous history is a different proposition to one that may have been assembled from a variety of sources. This is particularly true of racing cars. A Jaguar C-Type with good history can be worth three times as much as one of doubtful origins. Racing cars have a market of their own. Because they need a different level of skills and resources to be enjoyed, they attract a smaller market. On the flip side, they are also in shorter supply so prices tend to be just as firm. It was a racing car that recently set a new record for cars sold

at auction: a 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa sold for $16.39m in a Gooding and Company sale last year. Supply and demand naturally governs prices of individual models. Classic Aston Martins like the James Bond DB5 are now breaking into the £200,000-plus bracket due in part to the small numbers built. However, Jaguar E-Types still languish in five figures, thanks to a plentiful supply. Then again, there are some models that are in short supply simply because they were not very good and didn’t sell well. I hesitate to name names but their rarity is unlikely to be reflected in their values. A minefield then, but as David Gooding, founder of Gooding and Company suggests, ‘invest in what you love and buy the very best that you can afford’. In return you can pick up a car that will not only produce a return but also, as Schofield points out, ‘give access to a host of exclusive events and social gatherings’. Our tips? There are no guarantees, of course, but both the Maserati 3500GT and the Rolls-Royce 20/25 and 20/30 are strong choices. The 3500GT is the last great six-cylinder Maserati sharing the same engine as its racing brethren and still underrated, although collectors are catching on fast. And both the 20/25 and 20/30 may have been regarded as a poor man’s Rolls and hence cheap, but it’s a blue-chip brand. Limited supply of the more desirable models mean it will catch on before too long.

STAR PERFORMERS OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS ASTON MARTIN DB Investments with interesting stories usually perform In well. James Bond’s car of the 60s, the DB5, has made strong gains of late – indeed the model has become a deﬁning example of the investment car. b 2007 about $240,000 / 2012 about $400,000

FERRARI GTB Think Walter Ma hau in the 1971 ﬁlm A New Leaf aff. It always had the heritage but was overshadowed by the 250 and the Daytona. Now it is recognised for or its true worth and its value has grown accordingly. y. 2007 about $800,000 / 2012 about $1,200,000 00

Tw e n t y

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P R I VAT S E L E C T I O N

ILLUSTRATIONS © OWEN GILDERSLEEVE / YCN

With their endless complications and elegant visual references to the night sky, astronomical timepieces are the zenith of the watchmaker’s art, says Timothy Barber

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Watches below from left to right: IWC Schaffhausen’s Sidérale Scafusia; Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication; Patek Philippe’s Graves Watch; Van Cleef & Arpels’s Midnight in Paris

BEING THE OWNER OF AN ASTRONOMICAL WATCH GIVES YOU

serious bragging rights. Featuring complex celestial indications that display the celestial position of the sun, moon and stars, and show the phases of the moon, these complication timepieces (watches that do more than tell the time) are the ultimate luxury watches. Second time zones, date displays, heart monitor, weather forecasts and temperature gauges look run-of-the-mill in comparison to these intricate devices that mirror the beauty of the cosmos and keep perfect time. Astronomical timepieces can be traced back to the 1320s when Richard of Wallingford, the abbot of the abbey of St Albans, designed and began construction of the world’s first mechanical astronomical clock. (Earlier attempts in China and Arabia were water-driven.) Today its descendents are miracles of micro-engineering and a chance for premier watchmakers to show off their skill and talent. ‘These watches really speak to the imagination,’ says Lynn Schroeder, manager of one of London’s most prestigious watch retailers, Wempe

on New Bond Street. ‘Not everyone is capable of making this kind of thing – it’s extraordinary, and when you wear something like that people notice it for its beauty and its uniqueness.’ Patek Philippe is the pioneer of celestial timepieces. Back in 1932, financier Henry Graves commissioned the company to produce an 18-carat yellow gold pocketwatch. Taking three years to design and five to make, the Graves Watch featured a different horological function for each hour and showed a real-time map of the stars over Graves’s home in New York. It was auctioned by Sotheby’s in 1999, when it sold for $11m, making it the world’s most expensive watch. In 1989 Patek Philippe unveiled the most complicated timepiece ever created to mark their 150th anniversary, the Calibre ’89, with 1,728 unique parts and a celestial chart with 2,800 stars, which can still be ordered today. An alternative Patek Philippe is the refined Celestial 6104, featuring a face decorated with a star chart that also shows the phases of the moon, ringed by dates for the perpetual

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calendar and indicated by a crescent-shaped pointer. The bezel is set with 38 baguette-cut diamonds. Truly a statement piece. Many experts consider IWC Schaffhausen’s new Sidérale Scafusia to be the most remarkable complication watch currently available. Ten years in the making, it’s one of the most technically complex watches ever produced. Visible on the face is a large tourbillon escapement mechanism and an auxiliary dial displaying sidereal time (time measured by the rotation of the Earth in relation to the stars rather than our sun). You’ll find the real magic of the Sidérale Scafusia on the reverse side of the watch where, behind sapphire glass, a dramatic star chart shows the heavens as they revolve over the particular set of coordinates supplied by the buyer. It can show up to 1,000 different stars. Throw in a perpetual calendar, indicators of sunrise and sunset and the twist that, at sundown, the revolving star chart’s background fades from luminescent blue to dark grey, and you have a remarkable collector’s item. IWC are making just 10 a year and each customer can select more than 200 different design options themselves. A masterpiece of haute horology, it’s no wonder it’s priced at CHF750,000.

French watchmaker Van Cleef & Arpels also specialises in celestial pieces. Their Poetic Complications collection features a number of exceptional celestial watches for men and women, the most beautiful of which is the 18-carat rose gold Midnight in Paris. Its face is adorned with a chart of the stars over the French capital that spin via a rotating aventurine glass disk. Remove the solid gold cover on the back of the watch and you’ll find a tiny disc of real 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite surrounding the calendar. Jaeger-LeCoultre recently added an astronomical watch to its Master Grande Tradition limited-edition collection. The Grande Complication has an intriguing star chart dial with an open tourbillon, perpetual calendar and minute repeater functions. Another choice consideration is the L.U.C. Lunar One watch by Chopard. As its name suggests, this watch focuses on the phases of the moon, accurately reproducing them with its perpetual calendar which uses lunar phases to indicate the date, day, month and leap year. The watchmakers can set the model to either the northern or southern hemisphere, according to the buyer’s preference.

ILLUSTRATIONS © OWEN GILDERSLEEVE / YCN

P R I VAT S E L E C T I O N

Watches from left to right: Patek Philippe’s Celestial 6104; Patek Philippe’s Calibre ’89

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London Invasion The capital has long been a challenge for foreign restaurateurs wanting to make their mark. With all eyes on the city in the Olympic run-up, 2012 brings a brave new crop of culinary hopefuls. Jennifer Sharp assesses their chances

LONDON’S BOOMING RESTAURANT SCENE is a magnet for the world’s top chefs, and

while some succeed – particularly French haute cuisine stars such as Pierre Gagnaire at Sketch, Hélène Darroze at the Connaught, Joël Robuchon and Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester – many others have dramatically failed. Some big names like Australia’s Tetsuya have bombed, Ducasse’s first foray into London in the mid-90s didn’t take off, and Robuchon had to retreat from his no-reservations policy when Londoners simply refused to go to L’Atelier without a confirmed table. But London is too important to ignore and recent months have seen fascinating arrivals.

American Thomas Keller, often regarded as the finest chef in the world, hosted a 10-day pop-up restaurant in Harrods last October, and despite crippling prices and a dull space within the store, Keller’s reputation ensured it was a sell-out for lunch and dinner every day. If this was a cautious toe-in-the-water exercise, it must have reassured him. Another American link is the on-off collaboration between influential New York restaurateur Keith McNally (of Balthazar, Pastis and Pulino’s) and London restaurant mogul Richard Caring. The story has tantalised London for over a year but McNally is playing hard to get and we’ll have to wait.

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Wolfgang Puck of Spago fame is staking his claim in the UK capital with CUT at 45 Park Lane

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9A Windsor End, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire HP9 2JJ England t: 00 44 (0)1494 680488 e: info@delamerie.com www.delamerie.com

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BLUMMYZ Alongside these heavy hitters, there’s a much smaller newcomer who seems to be getting it just right in the heart of Chelsea. Elliott Blum is an unlikely restaurateur, born in Switzerland to the immensely wealthy family who founded Ebel watches and still provide components for upmarket watch brands. His father is the high-profile businessman Pierre-Alain Blum and Elliott is currently in London studying Business Management and Entrepreneurship. So why not open a restaurant on the side? It can’t be that difficult. Astonishingly, he’s doing remarkably well – involved with every detail from interior design to hiring the staff and overseeing the menu and the wine list. The long, narrow room holds a bar at the front and broadens out into a light-filled room, the monochrome colour scheme of cool creams and grey enlivened by red velvet high stools at the bar and soft velour seating. Blum has engaged an excellent Italian chef, Stefano Stecca (above), with Zafferano and the Baglione on his London CV. It is delightful cooking, fresh, healthy and delicious with no frills or gimmicks, just high-quality produce simply prepared. There are small plates of fine prosciutto, burrata with basil oil, chicken liver with black truffle, and soft polenta with clams. There is beef carpaccio with Parmesan, scallops with asparagus and chanterelles, linguine with langoustines, risotto and cod with lentils and onions. Along the back wall is a wood-fired oven and a tiled counter where chefs prepare grills and roasts such as T-bone steak, fresh fish and the perfect veal chop. It’s all just right for the fashionable local clientele and Blum’s own crowd of well-off international friends. At just 23, Elliott Blum is already making quite a stir in the restaurant world, and it’s just a hobby! Blummyz, 6 Hollywood Road, London SW10, +44 (0)20 7351 1588, www.blummyz.com

CUT The biggest new US name in London is Wolfgang Puck (left), founder of the legendary Spago and many other restaurants. For his first project in Europe, he brings his very classy modern American steak restaurant, CUT, to the Dorchester Collection’s new boutique hotel, 45 Park Lane. The restaurant on the ground floor overlooks Park Lane while upstairs there’s a chic bar for cocktails and simple food along with a tiny private screening room for 10. There are CUT outposts in Beverly Hills, Las Vegas and Singapore, and the London version replicates the clever mix of sleek interiors (by Thierry Despont) and modern art as a setting for simple but superb cooking. Steak dominates the menu with beef sourced from the USA, Australia, Devon and Chile, grilled over hard wood and charcoal and finished under a fierce 650ºC broiler. For balance there are salads and vegetables along with fish and seafood dishes including a spicy crab and lobster cocktail, Dover sole meunière, miso-glazed Scottish salmon, and diver scallops with Asian flavours. Italian head sommelier Vanessa Cinti has worked for five years with Puck in the States and clearly knows both New and Old World wines. There is an excellent selection by the glass as well as some celebratory large bottles of fine Champagne. CUT is an elegant and refreshing alternative to the grand French style which dominates London’s fine dining scene. Initial hitches in service have been ironed out and there’s no doubt it will be a fixture for a very long time. CUT at 45 Park Lane, London W1, +44 (0)20 7493 4545, www.45parklane.com

Above: big eye tuna tartare at CUT. Right: Blummyz in well-heeled Chelsea

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P R I VAT D I N I N G

Diners have been turning up in droves to Novikov’s Italian restaurant

NOVIKOV BAR & RESTAURANT Another London newcomer is Arkady Novikov (left), the undisputed restaurant king of Moscow, who has magically transformed a large, neglected site off Piccadilly into a pleasure dome with two huge restaurants (one Italian, one Asian) and a sexy lounge basement bar. Novikov was originally a chef but his talents as set designer and ringmaster are clear: this is dining as pure theatre. Everything is bold and beautiful. A huge bronze reception desk stands alongside a polished teak bar set with a chunk of lucky jade. The Asian restaurant is cool, subdued and well executed and serves Chinese, Malaysian and Japanese dishes. Chef Jeff Tyler commands a bustling open kitchen flanked by a fresh fish counter where live lobsters and magnificent turbot await their fate surrounded by baskets of exotic mushrooms, glistening chillies and vegetables. Down a short flight of stairs, past a wine wall, you enter the high-ceilinged Italian restaurant, full of faux chandeliers, frescoes and wrought-ironwork. Here chef Carmelo Carnevale and his team are also surrounded by fine foodstuffs: huge cured hams and salami, great wheels of Parmesan cheese,

Amalfi lemons and the finest olive oils. Both restaurants remain packed with a moneyed, nip-tuck clientele, despite having received a pounding from some food critics. Don’t miss the lounge bar downstairs where you are greeted by a vintage James Bond poster. The large L-shaped space is alluring, glamorous and seductively sleazy, albeit in an upmarket sort of way. There are distressed leather sofas, velvet love seats, Ottoman divans, polished Chesterfields, kilim cushions, a wall of mirrors, copies of old masters, framed photographs and a huge Union Jack along one wall. This is Novikov’s first London venture and is proving massively popular with punters if not with newspaper critics. He knows the city well, with a son at school here, a daughter at university and his wife having an Aldo Coppola salon in Knightsbridge. He may have more than 50 restaurants but his passion for this new project is unmistakable – he’s irrepressible, never sitting down, and a perfectionist who leads from the front. It will be interesting to see how he responds to the less than favourable reviews of his operation. Let’s hope he takes decisive action and irons out the niggles. Novikov Restaurant & Bar, 5 Berkeley Street, London W1, +44 (0)20 7399 4330, www.novikovrestaurant.co.uk

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P R I VAT DESIGN

Brazilian designers have been making striking modernist furniture since at least the 1950s, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only now the northern hemisphere is catching on. Mark C. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Flaherty takes a seat

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Previous page: Carlos Motta’s Euvira chair. Below: Sérgio Rodrigues in his classic Poltrona Mole. Right: Rodrigues’s 2002 Diz chairs at Rio’s Hotel Fasano

In the heart of the well-groomed Jardins district of São Paulo, tucked away in the shadows of an otherwise nondescript street, is South America’s most celebrated restaurant. Dinner at Alex Atala’s D.O.M is a Really Big Deal. Reservations are highly prized, and everything about a visit suggests an extraordinary event, from the doubleheight front door to the couples frantically taking pictures of their pretty floral green tomato salads. Instead of a palate cleanser, a waiter spins potato and Gruyère dough over each table, and unfurls it into a perfect swirl on each plate. This is the new Brazil: deluxe, a little avant-garde, with incredible attention to detail. And when you visit this new Brazil, you sit on vintage, modernist Sérgio Rodrigues chairs, with hexagonal split-cane panels. They’re the same chairs that chef Atala has at home, and the same chairs that the first dignitaries to visit the futuristic white concrete domes of Brasilia sat on. Twenty-first-century Brazil is passionately embracing its modernist design heritage. And there’s a lot to love, from the work of Gregori Warchavchik, who built the first modernist house in the country in the 1920s, to Etel Carmona’s meticulous licensed reproductions of pieces originally created by the architects behind the seminal Branco & Preto store in São Paulo at the start of the 1950s. Brazilian modernist furniture from the middle of the last century to the 1970s has, for years, been something of an insider’s secret. Now it’s gaining momentum and visibility, with vintage pieces by the likes of Rodrigues becoming sought after at auction, classic pieces going back into production, and

new designers channelling the aesthetic. Manhattan hotelier and champion of modernist design André Balazs recently furnished his SoHo loft with several vintage Rodrigues pieces, which now sit next to original artwork by Bacon, Schnabel and Warhol. ‘I’ve become very interested in South American design,’ he says. ‘Rodrigues’s work has incredible detail.’ Brazilian design specialists Espasso in New York City and Los Angeles, and Silvia Nayla in London, attract clients who have an attachment to the quietly flash and au courant mid-century modern aesthetic, but who want something less obvious than the usual Scandinavian suspects. Brazilian modernism has an organic and seductively tropical element to it that makes it unique. And unlike its international cousins, it hasn’t been done to death. If there’s an equivalent to the Eames lounge chair, it might be Rodrigues’s generously upholstered Poltrona Mole, which first appeared in 1957. When it won first prize at the Concurso Internacional do Móvel in Cantù, Italy in 1961, Danish design maestro Arne Jacobson – one of the judges – hailed it as ‘the only model with up-to-date

characteristics… not inﬂuenced by passing whims, and absolutely representative of its region of origin’. But even the Poltrona Mole, for all its awards and recognition, hasn’t become a household name. There is no bargain basement ‘inspired by’ copy available online, just the $10,150 model, made to order via Espasso. Pieces by key Brazilian designers run at a premium through their scarcity. Isay Weinfeld’s Huguinho bar sells for $20,500, while Warchavchik’s Leque magazine holder goes for $18,600. This is serious investment furniture. You can still order Rodrigues’s work direct from his atelier in Rio de Janeiro, and select from myriad models, leathers and ﬁnishes. He’s still there, larger than life, with his iconic Yosemite Sam moustache, working on new designs in his Botafogo workshop. In the late 1960s, his work became more playful, and he switched from being a master of modernism to a practitioner of postmodernism. His more recent pieces – like the 2002 Diz chair, which appears on the balconies of the Hotel Fasano, the chicest beachfront property in Rio – pay homage to both movements. But it’s still all distinctively

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‘I just do what I like. When I create a piece, I’m my own client. I always think that if I like it, then someone else will’ S ÉR G IO R O D RI GUES

Thirty-Five

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O TI NA

„Nothing is as strong as an idea whose time has come.“

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Above: Espasso in New York specialises in Brazilian design

Rodrigues. ‘I don’t care if people say postmodern or modernist, I just do what I like,’ he says. ‘When I create a piece, I’m my own client. I always think that if I like it, then someone else will.’ Rodrigues’s style is organic and slightly wild. It is passionate and sensual – the Mole chair invites you to spread out and sprawl. If there are shades of the sharpness of Italian modernist Gio Ponti in some of Rodrigues’s work (and indeed in the work of many Brazilian modernists) then there are also more savage hints of horn and tusk-shapes, and pure Amazonian spirit in their wooden frames. ‘I’ve always worked with wood,’ he says. ‘When I was a child, my uncle was a carpenter, and I studied with him. We had so many types of tropical wood at our fingertips, and it became a major feature in my work. Even if I work in metal, I still add wood to it, because it changes the meaning.’ Most of Rodrigues’s early pieces were crafted from jacaranda, but from the 1980s onwards – when the sub-tropical tree neared extinction from over-logging – he shifted to eucalyptus, cinnamon, cedar and ivory palm. A walk around the Ipanema

branch of Arquivo Contemporâneo, the multi-levelled store and definitive showroom for Brazilian design in Rio, confirms that wood remains the focus for most of the country’s designers. There are the svelte and bow-legged chairs by Aristeu Pires and Jader Almeida and squared-off tables and sofa decks by Bernardo Figueiredo. All are crafted in wood. Then there are the pieces from the Etel collection, produced by Etel Carmona – Warchavchik’s aforementioned 1930 magazine holder, the Poltrona MF5 from 1950 by Branco & Preto, and the beautifully ornate Cacos console by Carmona herself. There is a strong eco-slant to much of this work. Carmona established the Aver Amazonica factory in Xapuri in 2002, founded on the principle of producing pieces from sustainable sources in an ecologically sound manner and in a way that was respectful and supportive of local communities. It’s an ethos shared by many of the key Brazilian brands. ‘Most of our current designers work in wood, and all of them use only ethically sourced materials,’ says Cassidy Hughes, the manager of the

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Brazilian modernism has an organic and seductively tropical element to it that makes it unique

Above: the work of Paulo Alves. Left: Carlos Motta’s I3

Silvia Nayla store in London. ‘There is something magical about so much of their work, as if they’ve been pulled from an enchanted forest. Hugo França’s pieces highlight the beauty of wood in its natural state, yet each one is still a completely functional piece. And Paulo Alves’s Pedra stools combine traditional wood-carving techniques with modern technology.’ The key strength of Brazilian modernism – both vintage, from the 1950s and 1960s, and the current modernism redux – is that it fits into the most contemporary of environments in such a fresh and sophisticated way, even the more directional pieces. Carlos Motta, who is one of Rodrigues’s favourite designers, is the superstar of the contemporary scene. He lives in a beach house on the Brazilian coast that he describes as ‘very hippie’, surfs regularly, and works entirely in wood certified by the Brazilian Forest Stewardship Council. His work has a truly Latin beauty to it: his raw-surfaced rocking chairs and lounge pieces have a recycled appearance coupled with visual heft, while his Horizonte

desk is one of the standout pieces at Espasso. He’s one of the most in-demand brands at Arquivo Contemporâneo, and the Museu Oscar Niemeyer staged an exhibition of his work last year in Curitiba. The cover of the exhibition catalogue was a detail of his Mesa Não Me Toque (‘Don’t Touch Me Table’), a glass coffee table with the most extraordinary wooden base consisting of a polished globe covered with immense, menacing, mace-like spikes. It’s a statement piece in more ways than one. Motta created it when he was invited by IBAMA (the Brazilian environment agency) to create a piece for a show they were curating. They provided the wood, which Motta discovered was not certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. ‘I was furious,’ he says. ‘So I created a piece that no one could touch to make a point.’ While the Mesa Não Me Toque is an absolute one-off, it’s a testament to Motta’s genius that many potential customers have enquired about orders. This particular school of Brazilian design is absolutely about integrity as much as beauty.

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VitraHaus – welcome home. There’s a new source of design inspiration for every living space: the VitraHaus. The new home to the Vitra Home Collection, it features Vitra Classics and furnishings by contemporary designers. VitraHaus architects: Herzog & de Meuron, www.vitra.com/vitrahaus

Frankfurt (3h)

Paris (3h 47min)

Strasbourg (1h 30min) Vitra Campus Basel (10min)

Freiburg (45min) Munich (4h) Zurich (1h)

Bern (1h)

Visit the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein/Germany, 7 km from Basel. www.vitra.com/vitrahaus

Geneva (2h 25min) Milan (3h 45min)

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P R I VAT P E R S O N

A Wealth of Talents Great affluence can distance many from the real world – but not Hilary Weston, who is as engaged in business as she is in charity. Jennifer Sharp meets this most hands-on of billionaires

LAST DECEMBER AS ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH HELD ITS ANNUAL

fiesta of art, wealth and glamour, a unique partnership was launched along the coast at Windsor, the private residential community created by the Weston family at Vero Beach. Hilary Weston, creative director and co-founder of Windsor with her husband Galen, launched a three-year collaboration with London’s edgy and influential Whitechapel Gallery. The partnership kicked off with an exhibition by Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes, and in the gallery at Windsor, the walls were ablaze with colour and the rooms bustled with international jet-setters. The party moved on to dinner at the Westons’ villa with tables laid under the stars, where collectors, artists and dealers rubbed shoulders with bankers and tycoons. Three women held the spotlight: the artist with the curly black hair, infectious laugh and vibrant colours; the museum director Iwona Blazwick of the Whitechapel Gallery, whose dreamy blonde looks belie her passion for contemporary art; and Hilary Weston – tall, vivacious, the perfect hostess. The evening captured admirably the dynamic between modern art and money. Its choreographer, Hilary Weston, is a woman whose charm and kindness has remained unchanged by her immensely privileged life. She embodies the old notion of noblesse oblige, the responsibility that comes with privilege, and her tireless devotion to good works is more than just an affectation, it’s a vocation. Her commitments to charities, art and business would make the most hardened workaholic blench; they include roles as patron, chair, president and board director of 16 different

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At Newby, we know how good tea can be and that an outstanding cup of tea is created by protecting the freshness of the tea leaf. This was once well known, and Newby was founded to revive this lost tradition of preserving the true character of fine tea. For us, nothing is too much trouble to bring you the best quality cup possible. All our traditional teas are guaranteed to be selected from the very best first and second flush teas – the first shoots from the prime season of each harvest. Our dedication doesn’t end there. We know that the freshness, flavour and fragrance of tea can be lost over time and in transit. We are the only tea company in the world to introduce the concept of preservation into our tea facility in Kolkota. In addition to this, all of our packaging materials are selected to complement the preservation of our teas. For example, our tea bags are wrapped in unique multi-layered ALU foil sachets. No other company goes to all this trouble to capture and keep the freshness of the tea leaf. But we believe it’s worth it. A good cup with powerful character is heaven’s delight. Our belief is shared by the word’s finest hotels, restaurants and landmarks. Wimbledon, Lord’s Cricket Ground, Selfridges and The Goring Hotel all choose Newby, to give their guests a tea of true distinction.

Everyone deserves a better cup of tea.

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P R I VAT P E R S O N

‘It’s lovely to surround yourself with beautiful things, whether that be art or furnishings or fashion’

IMAGE © GETTY

Above: Hilary Weston chairs the Renaissance campaign at the Royal Ontario Museum

organisations in the three different countries where she has homes. Her fundraising skills are legendary, contributing towards high-profile projects and organisations such as the Daniel Libeskind-designed Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the USA, and the College of St George at Windsor Castle in the UK. In addition, between 1997 and 2002 she was Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, fulfilling the constitutional role of the British Crown in the Canadian province. She was only the second woman to hold the position which she made much more than ceremonial. During her tenure, Weston focused on issues relating to women, volunteering and young people, drawing public attention to those brave people working with the homeless, in hospices and with vulnerable, at-risk youth. This is clearly a lady who knows how to roll her sleeves up and get down to the nitty-gritty. The left-wing press is sometimes scornful of the rich and famous assuming a Lady Bountiful role, suggesting a little social work is something to be done between hair appointments. Hilary Weston decisively proves them wrong. She and her husband Galen make a dazzling couple: both tall, good-looking, clever and charming, and hugely

successful. They have forged an enviable business and private partnership that now embraces retail empires in Canada, Britain and Europe, including prestige stores such as Selfridges in the UK, Brown Thomas in Dublin and Holt Renfrew in Canada. Also in Canada is the huge supermarket and food organisation Loblaws, run by the Westons’ son, Galen Jnr. In London, their daughter Alannah injects a powerful creative spark to Selfridges’ activities alongside her father’s demanding business drive. ‘Galen and I have instilled in our children two very important beliefs,’ says Weston: ‘the need to stay connected to the world and the need to give back. We made sure that they had a good education, and they knew that commitment to studying and doing a good job was important to their future success.’ This is a close-knit family, working and playing together. They are also remarkably discreet. They feature in the Sunday Times Rich List but never comment on it and rarely give interviews. Last autumn Galen Weston gave his first in 30 years to the Financial Times to promote a fashion initiative at Selfridges. He took the opportunity to praise his wife Hilary as an ‘unsung hero’ who has made a far greater impact on their fortunes than anyone realises. She clearly

Forty-Three

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MODEL: JALIS by Jehs + Laub

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P R I VAT P E R S O N

Left: Hilary Weston and her husband Galen make a dazzling couple

has an instinct for fashion and design. ‘She has this way of spotting something that isn’t quite right, that could be improved…’ he said. ‘She’ll say something small, never pushy, but we all realise she’s right.’ It all began in the Republic of Ireland where Hilary Frayne was born into a large Dublin family that suffered two tragedies – her father’s early death and her mother’s chronic illness. As the oldest child but still a teenager, she took charge of her siblings while forging a successful career as a model. In the early 60s she met a handsome young Canadian businessman,

‘She’ll say something small, never pushy, but we all realise she’s right’

IMAGE © GETTY

Galen Weston, who had been sent over to Ireland to expand the family business. ‘I was 19 years old when Galen came to the country,’ she says. ‘We met at a dinner party and married three years later, although Galen likes to tell people that he had first spotted me on a billboard.’ They married in 1966, moving back to Canada in 1974, and Galen expanded his business empire on both sides of the Atlantic, moving swiftly from millionaire to billionaire status. But Hilary has never been a trophy wife; she is actively engaged in his business, especially when fashion and design skills are needed. ‘I’ve always loved elegant, stylish clothes,’ she says, ‘and it’s lovely to surround yourself with beautiful things, whether that be art or furnishings or fashion. People underestimate how style can completely transform how a person feels; whether that is the design of their home, or the style of the clothes that they wear. It’s not only the overall look, but the small details that make a difference.’ For many years their British home has been Fort Belvedere on the edge of Windsor Great Park in Surrey. This historic house in faux military style remains the property of the

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P R I VAT P E R S O N

Right: 3325 Fortnum Place is one of the houses for sale in Windsor, the private residential community Weston has helped build on Florida’s Vero Beach

Crown with an exotic cast list of previous residents including Royal Princes and King Edward VIII (later the Duke of Windsor) who actually signed the abdication papers there. Today the Westons use the Fort for far simpler purposes. ‘Fort Belvedere holds a special place in our hearts,’ she says. ‘It is close to London but also in the heart of the country, so we can enjoy weekends there with our friends, family and grandchildren. It is a wonderful counterpoint to our city life.’ It seemed natural to use the Windsor name for the residential development the Westons created at Vero Beach in Florida. Right from the start the aim was to develop a genuine community rather than a scattered assembly of deluxe villas with no soul. Using renowned town planners with a gift for ‘new urbanism’ and a refreshing, airy Anglo-Caribbean style, Windsor has appealing public and shared spaces including the art gallery, and even a farmers market. With more than 400 acres of parkland and the ocean nearby, an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, riding centre and beach club, it’s ideal for relaxation and Florida sunshine. Residents are international and multi-generational; it’s a place to bring children, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandchildren. There have even been a few marriages. Windsor reflects the Hilary Weston view of life that combines hard work and a loving family spirit. ‘A happy life is being curious,’ she declares. ‘We learn through our experiences, and enjoying life is a result of what we’ve learned. Curiosity brings you into so many different areas and you discover so much about yourself by learning through other people. One’s always seeking the spiritual, and to have that is to have a really, truly sweet life.’ Life may be sweet for Weston, but only because she works so hard – and thrives on the pressure. The world never stops for her. She recently masterminded a huge charity polo event at Windsor and last year she launched the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. Now she’s looking forward to the next stage of the Whitechapel collaboration. ‘I can’t reveal the name of our next artist,’ she says, ‘but I can say it will be a modern master and another exciting partnership.’

‘A happy life is being curious. We learn through our experiences, and enjoying life is a result of what we’ve learned’

Forty-Six

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But Is It Art?

P R I VATA R T

Watches in art galleries; jewellery as high culture; what on earth is going on? Claire Adler profiles the new crossover between luxury and art

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urveyors of some of the rarest jewellery and watches in the world have extended their repertoires of late. Certain designers have decided that their work isn’t just decoration for beautiful people with deep pockets. Rather, it merits the hushed awe and reverence of art. Top-flight luxury companies were never strangers to guest-list-only, price-on-application events, but now they’re showing off their pieces as if they were paintings or sculptures, with gallery openings, retrospectives, preparatory sketches and all the attendant seriousness and cultural glamour of high art. In the past year, designers Shaun Leane and Robert Procop have both succeeded in turning the making of jewellery into an art, fashion and cultural event in its own right. For 14 years Shaun Leane conceived mind-blowing catwalk jewellery while collaborating with the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen. While in Hong Kong recently to open his first South-East Asian store, Leane set up a temporary exhibition in Hong Kong’s contemporary arts venue, the Fringe Club. The show featured sketches of his collections and stunning examples of his collaborative work with some of fashion and luxury’s biggest names, from McQueen to Sarah Jessica Parker, Boucheron and De Beers Forevermark. The highlight was his masterpiece Contra Mundum, a platinum armour glove encrusted with 5,000 pavé diamonds, inspired by the designer and haute couture collector Daphne Guinness. Such is the current appetite for jewels displayed as art that the showstopping diamond glove was later on show at Art Rocks, the first jewellery exhibition at Mayfair contemporary gallery Shizaru, co-curated by jewellery expert Joanna Hardy. Other dazzling pieces included daringly intricate work by Sevan Biçakçi

Forty-Nine

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P R I VATA R T

Previous page: Shaun Leane’s platinum armour glove, Contra Mundum. Right: Geneva’s MAD Gallery. Below: a piece from Sevan Biçakçi’s Art Rocks collection. Bottom: Shaun Leane’s bespoke Thistle brooch created for Sarah Jessica Parker

and a mesmerising 144-carat paraiba tourmaline and gold bangle by Leo De Vroomen, crafted with a millennia-old repoussé hammering and punching technique. Meanwhile, Robert Procop, the former Asprey CEO who left with his top client, Angelina Jolie, and now designs with her, has held invitation-only exhibitions documenting the making of his emerald jewels in Hong Kong, Cannes and Dubai. Usually to be found jetting between his creative studio in Beverly Hills, gemstone laboratory in Geneva and offices in New York and Hong Kong, Procop installed himself in Monaco for the duration of last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Away from the main tourist thoroughfares, in the SEM-ART contemporary arts gallery, jewellery was transformed into art: storyboards and drawings of the creative process behind the collection adorned blackened walls. A presentation on the

Fifty

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‘We see our horological machines as an artistic form of watchmaking, which could easily be sold in an art gallery instead of a watch store’

collection’s philanthropic element that saw a portion of sales revenue directed to Jolie’s charity, Children of Conflict, ran alongside. Art, occasion and charity; add in the occasional Hollywood, or even better, royal visitor, and such events become a marketing man’s dream. Princess Charlene of Monaco came to see Robert Procop in Cannes just days before her wedding. Shaun Leane’s guest lists have featured clients including Kate Moss and Tom Ford. Offering limited access to such events enables luxury companies to bring memorable experiences to those who know the right people. They also add immeasurable kudos to the brand, its craftspeople and designers. And they don’t half shift product.

This summer, to coincide with the Olympics, London watch mogul Marcus Margulies plans a display in his shrine of a New Bond Street boutique, which he is calling ‘the apex of watchmaking’. The five-floor Marcus store, with its dramatic glass stairwell and its underground watch vault, looks like a contemporary art museum anyway. Its architect, Eva Jiricna, has put her hand to projects at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Sir John Soane Museum. Now, Marcus’s forthcoming exhibition, which also celebrates his own 70th birthday, with 70 vintage timepieces by Audemars Piguet dating from 1899 to 1970, as well as high jewellery and unique masterpieces from the likes of Hublot and Piaget, and box set catalogues like those

Above: an intricate statement ring from Sevan Biçakçi’s Art Rocks collection

Fifty-One

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A day in the world of ZILLI

the ďŹ nest garment for men in the world

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Below: Robert Procop’s cushion emerald necklace from his Style of Jolie collection. Bottom: the Konstantin Beta sit-on toy by Nika Zupanc

Art, occasion and charity – add in the occasional Hollywood, or even better, royal visitor, and it’s a marketing man’s dream produced by leading art dealers, will surely take his museum concept to a new level. Elsewhere, artists can be found toying with jewellery and watches in new ways. Gallerist Louisa Guinness sells jewellery made by contemporary artists including Anish Kapoor and Ron Arad. When Damien Hirst teamed up with Italian watchmakers Panerai as part of a Panerai-sponsored show at Milan’s Triennale Design Museum, he used black Panerai watch faces without hands to create his Beautiful Sunflower paintings, reminiscent of the seeds in the head of a sunflower. ‘I hope the painting makes you think, we are here for a good time, not a long time,’ he said, in a comment likely to have had many a Panerai fan viewing the watch on their wrist in an entirely new light.

But perhaps the most intriguing and compelling of all is Geneva’s MAD Gallery, the brainchild of maverick watchmaker Max Büsser. This isn’t a watch boutique by any stretch of the imagination, but it does sell the watches from MB&F, or Max Büsser and Friends. Büsser, who calls his most outlandish watches Horological Machines, refers to his gallery as a ‘3D blog’. That’s because the place offers an insight into his own aesthetic inclinations and into a parallel world of creators whose rarefied work he admires. MAD stands for Mechanical Art Devices. ‘We regroup selected works of art, design and photography that turn around the concept of machines,’ says Büsser. ‘We see our horological machines as a contemporary and artistic form of

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PRECIOUS PIECES FRANK BUCHWALD LIGHTING MAD GALLERY GENEVA Berlin-based Buchwald hand burnishes up to 200 individual components of raw steel and brass to form a gleaming black structure (above). Bulbs and light tubes with partially visible ﬁlaments create a so warm glow.

SHAUN LEANE’S GLOVE FOR DAPHNE GUINNESS

The Marcus store, with its dramatic glass stairwell and underground watch vault, looks like a contemporary art museum Above: Marcus Margulies’s New Bond Street boutique, which he calls ‘the apex of watchmaking’

watchmaking, which could easily be sold in an art gallery instead of a watch store.’ Büsser’s clients range from Formula One champions to architects and industrialists on the hunt for something individual. Having auctioned off his watch in the shape of a gold panda bear flying on twin jets in Monaco for €170,000, he now offers kinetic sculptures, including hands that clap on demand; colourful children’s cars by Nika Zupanc; and thought-provoking photography amid white-washed brick walls and sumptuous display cases. One of the MAD Gallery’s star performers is Frank Buchwald, a former illustrator turned metalwork designer, who creates striking and intricate lamps. Büsser’s newest watches are five times oversubscribed, but he says money is not the driving force behind the gallery; it’s the

handpicked, rarefied element that motivates him. ‘To be coherent with our concept of Friends, as in MB+F, we need to really like the artists and creators as human beings. I curate every piece myself,’ he says. The aim of jewellers and horologists seems clear: elevating top-end products to the status of art imbues them with intangibles beyond the material value and even craftsmanship they represent. It confirms buyers’ good taste and suffuses perusing and buying luxury products with the kind of rich experiences and memories so popular with marketing men. Art lovers may also be persuaded by luxury as art, especially if they’re still woozy after Damien Hirst’s 2007 For the Love of God, the notorious £50m diamond-encrusted skull. At the very least, the strategy seems to be keeping even sceptics lingering and ogling that little bit longer.

Five years in the making, this bespoke glove bears cascading diamond birds. The cuﬀ can be worn alone or extended into an evening glove.

SEVAN BIÇAKÇI SHIZARU GALLERY LONDON Thanks to the carvings on the back of a dome-shaped gemstone, inspired by Istanbul’s sultan mosques, Sevan Biçakçi’s breathtakingly intricate Sultan Mosque ring has a sculptural appearance.

HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY WATCH EXHIBITION MARCUS LONDON July to October 2012 ‘The pieces in this exhibition, including Audemars Piguet’s most complicated watches, will blow people’s brains out. The most expensive piece is well into seven ﬁgures,’ says Marcus Margulies.

ROBERT PROCOP EXCEPTIONAL JEWELS Robert Procop’s substantial but surprisingly light Colombian emerald line bracelet was worn by Angelina Jolie at a recent Cannes photocall. She also co-designed the piece. You can view it, but by appointment only.

Fifty-Four

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HARD C A N DY This season’s colours are sugary pastels – pale mints, sorbet pinks and caramels – it’s feminine with attitude. Photography by Oliver Pilcher. Fashion director: Nino Bauti

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previous pageďš&#x2022; co on mini-dress by Roland Mouret; gabardine blazer by Paul Smith; leather clutch with skull detail clasp by Alexander McQueen. leftďš&#x2022; silk tank top by Paul Smith; co on and silk jumper by Martin Margiela; so denim trousers by Preen; leather and canvas bag by Yves Saint Laurent; bordered bangle diva by Frey Wille. aboveďš&#x2022; shirt dress by Giles Deacon; reptile clutch by Chanel; leather strap watch by HermĂ¨s

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Silk blouse by Raoul; viscose trousers by Marni; co on gabardine coat by Carven at Harrods; vinyl clutch by Yves Saint Laurent; palm tree brooch by Bulgari

Sixty

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Stretch co on dress by Antonio Berardi; leather belt by Diane Von Furstenberg; turtle-shaped brooch (on the neck line) by Vernier; leather and chain biker gloves by Chanel; golden clutch by L.K. Benne ; heels by Escada

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Shirt and lace skirt by Burberry Prorsum; metallic leather jacket by Zadig & Voltaire; leather corset-belt and studded sandals by Alexander McQueen

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photographer Oliver Pilcher fashion director Nino Bauti hair and make-up James Bu erﬁeld stylist’s assistant Normandie Hoche photographer’s assistant Tom Ayerst

model Mary-Elizabeth from First

above﹕ gaze dress by Yves Saint Laurent; acrylic bracelet by Sarah Angold at www.boticca.com

Sixty-Three

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Tsar

Quality After almost a century, the House of Fabergé – most famous for the eggs it created for the Russian royal family – has returned to take its place as jeweller to the world’s elite. By Vivienne Becker

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Previous page: an emerald and diamond egg pendant from Les Fameux de Fabergé. Top: inside Fabergé’s sumptuous London boutique. Bottom: the extraordinary Romanov necklace with 79 emeralds and 1,991 white diamonds

Fabergé. Just say it aloud: the name of this opulent jewellery house rolls off the tongue, rich and resonant. As well it should: Fabergé is one of the most famous luxury brands in the world, celebrated for its extravagant jewellery and best-known for its iconic, delicate jewel-adorned eggs. But it hasn’t always been this way – Fabergé has had a tumultuous history. The company was started by Gustav Fabergé in 1842, but it was Gustav’s son, Peter Carl, who elevated Fabergé’s status to virtuoso creator of luxury objects. Peter Carl created ravishing works of art, accessories, objects and jewels for the Russian royal family (including the last Romanov Tsar Nicholas II and his Empress Alexandra). His most celebrated work was the series of legendary imperial Easter eggs – at the time, utterly unparalleled in their precision and beauty. Peter Carl’s moment in the limelight came to an abrupt end with the Russian Revolution, however. The Bolsheviks seized Fabergé’s workshops and its bounty of treasures, and Peter Carl and his family scattered, finally settling in Switzerland. After World War II the Fabergé name was resurrected – but not by the Fabergé family. An American oil billionaire decided to use the moniker for his fledgling perfume business. When the original Fabergés found out, they sued, but unable to afford protracted litigation, in 1951 they gave up all rights to the family name in an out-of-court settlement. The Fabergé marque now found itself branding supermarket aftershave and scent.

IMAGE © GETTY

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Downmarket the products may have been but the new company was a rather stylish affair: Cary Grant was a creative consultant and later a company director; Farrah Fawcett and Margaux Hemingway (the model granddaughter of Ernest) both fronted advertising campaigns; the company even had its own film division. Then, in the late 1980s, Unilever bought Fabergé for $1.55bn. The Fabergé stamp now went on everything from aftershave to hair spray, shampoo and jeans. The turnaround started in 2007 when the Fabergé name and its portfolio of licences was acquired by investment group Pallinghurst Resources. The new Fabergé Limited’s first, bold decision was to reunite the company with the expertise of the remaining Fabergé descendants, Tatiana and Sarah, Peter Carl’s

great-granddaughters. ‘I have dreamed of this moment for decades,’ said Tatiana. Tatiana, Sarah and Pallinghurst immediately set about restoring the Fabergé name and reinstating its heritage as the world’s finest luxury jewellery house. The big relaunch was in September 2009, under the inspired creative direction of Katharina Flohr, former fashion and jewellery editor of Tatler. The inaugural collection, Les Fabuleuses, was indeed fabulous, both powerfully contemporary and a tribute to Peter Carl’s intricate work, and won international acclaim. Flohr has since built on its success with several new collections, each very different but all capturing the family’s Russian spirit of refinement with their own enchanting story to tell. The Carnet de Bal, an exclusively diamond and

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Right: one of Fabergé’s remarkable flagship necklaces. Below: the trellispatterned exterior of Fabergé’s Mayfair store

Carine Roitfeld captured the brand’s fresh new spirit in a high-profile advertising campaign last year. ‘We wanted to celebrate la jeunesse dorée with this campaign and make Fabergé relevant to a younger audience,’ says Flohr. ‘The result is a compelling image that tells the story of a new generation reinterpreting Fabergé for their contemporaries.’ In addition to their flagship boutique in Geneva, which opened in 2009, the company now has a London boutique in Mayfair, just off Bond Street, with a striking lavender facade, replicating the enamelled trellis pattern of a Fabergé picture frame. ‘We were thrilled to open the doors to the first Fabergé boutique in London since 1915,’ said Flohr. A New York boutique, on Madison Avenue will open its doors

later this spring, to engage with American clients. It’s another nod to Fabergé’s heritage, as wealthy tycoons of the Gilded Age, such as Consuelo Vanderbilt and the Duchess of Marlborough, were avid devotees. Fabergé has also just opened its first boutique in Asia, within Hong Kong’s prestigious department store Lane Crawford. But this modernised brand hasn’t limited itself to selling its wares in bricks and mortar shops. A Google survey in 2008 showed that 95 per cent of millionaires prefer to shop online, so Fabergé has invested significant effort in its digital assets. The company’s bespoke website is manned 24 hours a day by experienced sales staff speaking 12 languages – taking online retail to an exclusive, personalised level. It’s another exciting step in Fabergé’s dazzling rebirth.

exclusively white collection of contemporary jewellery, conjures images of the great St Petersburg early 20th-century society parties, balls and banquets. The Solyanka Treasures, one-of-a-kind rings, each set with a vibrantly coloured gem, were inspired by a stash of Fabergé jewels that were hidden from the Bolsheviks in 1918 and uncovered in 1990 under the windowsill of an old Moscow mansion. And Les Saisons Russes, unveiled last year, connects to the rhythm of the Russian seasons that dictated social life. The centrepiece of this high-jewellery collection is Les Fameux de Fabergé – 12 spectacular egg pendants that transform the exquisitely intricate and iconic imperial eggs into an opulent yet wearable piece of jewellery. Katharina Flohr is particularly proud of this collection: she personally scoured Europe to find craftsmen capable of translating her complicated ideas for the pendants, each of which revolves around an old Russian proverb. The master craftsmen she was after needed to be familiar with near-extinct techniques – enamelling, engraving, painted enamels, articulation, invisible gem setting and stone carving. The Diamond Egg (its proverb: ‘genius is simplicity’) was an industry first, crafted through technical wizardry in titanium and invisibly set with diamonds, each hand-cut to follow the curve of the egg. Three years after its radical rebirth, Fabergé is still blossoming. Fashion dream team photographer Mario Testino and stylist

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A tribute to

GR ACE and ELEGANCE Montblanc, partner of the Princess Grace Foundation, honours and supports the extraordinary legacy of Princess Grace of Monaco with a new collection of precious timepieces, writing instruments and ladies’

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Space travel is no longer just for NASA astronauts or the astronomically rich. For just $95,000, you could breach the final frontier as early as next year, says Ian Henderson

’m going to be an astronaut!’ yelled Anton. The self-made day trader and self-confessed adrenaline addict looked like he’d just pulled off the most exciting coup of his life. And perhaps he had. He was going into space – and at a bargain price. For while there may be no such thing as a free launch, the ticket is getting cheaper all the time. Anton had just paid $95,000 to Space Experience Curaçao (SXC), one of the new operators who are making a return trip to space as affordable as buying a small private plane. Anton and I were at a chic party in London in a remarkable modernist house built entirely inside a vast Victorian theatrical warehouse, set in the quiet streets behind Drury Lane. The event marked the UK launch of SXC, and the day trader wasn’t alone: he received his framed astronaut training certificate from one of SXC’s radiant hostesses alongside a doctor, a lawyer and a wealthy Russian named Dimitri who said he wanted be ‘the youngest Russian in space ever – except Laika’. (Laika was a dog the Russians put into space in 1957. It died.) These would-be astronauts had signed up for medical checks, an intensive astronaut training programme, acclimatisation flights at SXC’s new spaceport (currently being

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‘This is about science, learning, endeavour. We may seem crazy, but this is the start of a new era’ MICHIEL MOL FOUNDER SXC

Above: SXC’s spaceport, currently under construction in Curaçao, will begin launches to the edge of space in 2013

built in Curaçao) and, ultimately, the chance to sit alongside a real astronaut for the real thing: a flight into space, in a two-seater rocket plane called the Lynx. Space begins at the Kármán Line – 100km (62 miles) above the Earth’s surface and the top of the Lynx’s trajectory. At that altitude, there’s not enough atmosphere to keep even the fastest winged aircraft flying. You’re no longer in any Earth country – it’s where national airspace usually stops. There’s little atmosphere: if a meteor passed you, you wouldn’t see it until it started burning up in the thicker air far below you. From here you can see the curvature of the Earth and millions upon millions of stars above you. Journey here and you can officially call yourself an astronaut. On SXC’s flight, you’ll be above the Kármán Line – and completely weightless – for about six minutes. The total flight time is one hour. Fulfilling the dream of going into space has driven the growth of a new industry, much of it based around the desert town of Mojave in the USA where companies like Scaled Composites, XCOR (builders of SXC’s Lynx) and others are finding ways of building the light, reusable, robust – and above all, safe – technologies that will make commercial spaceflight

possible. I ask Dutch media magnate and SXC founder Michiel Mol if he wouldn’t rather do more for humanity by, say, investing in clean water for Africa. He pauses, then says firmly: ‘No. This is about science, learning, endeavour. We may seem crazy, but this is the start of a new era.’ In the age of affordable space travel, competition is driving down prices. In 2001 the first space tourist, American Dennis Tito, paid $20m for his ticket aboard a Russian Soyuz. For this, he did get to go into orbit rather than the suborbital out-andback trips offered by SXC and others like Virgin Galactic. Virgin has a waiting list for tickets at $200,000 on its eightseater suborbital craft SpaceShipTwo, and expects to make its first commercial flights in 2013. SXC hopes to launch their flights next year too. ‘This century will see the same growth in space travel as the last century saw in air travel,’ says Mol. ‘It’s not a race. But we’d rather win, of course.’ Mojave is a commercial test airfield in California located next to Edwards Air Force Base. This was the setting for Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff which chronicled the exploits of legendary test pilots like Chuck Yeager who flew the Bell X-1 rocket-plane back in 1947, breaking the sound barrier for the

S e v e n t y - Tw o

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first time – having to conceal the fact that only two days before he’d broken two ribs out horse-riding in the desert. Edwards was also the backdrop for the launch of the first aircraft into space, the X-15, which crossed the Kármán Line in 1963. SXC’s two-seater, compact Lynx is in many ways the X-15’s successor. It takes off and lands on a runway just like any conventional jet but is powered by four rocket engines which, unlike jet engines, don’t need to take in air. One breakthrough has been to make these motors capable of being throttled up and down and even restarted in flight; this is a long way from the X-15’s uncontrolled rockets, whose ignition bore some comparison to lighting the touchpaper on a garden firework. Virgin’s solution differs in that it piggybacks the VSS Enterprise (named jokily after the intergalactic craft in Star Trek) to altitude on a mother plane – it is then dropped and powers into space before gliding to a runway landing. Another firm, Blue Origin, is offering a straight up-and-down flight in a capsule atop a reusable booster rocket, not unlike the early Vostok vehicles that put Yuri Gagarin into space – the first man ever to leave Earth’s atmosphere, in 1961.

Competition to simply be first with a reusable passenger vehicle was inspired by the Ansari X Prize, awarded to Scaled Composites (financed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen) for being first to make two flights in under two weeks. That triumph has matured into a whole new industry finding diverse answers for the challenges of suborbital spaceflight. In the

Above: Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America in New Mexico, home to the nearly two mile-long Bill Richardson Spaceway, the runway facilitated by the state’s former governor. Left: the (virtual) competition, SXC’s Lynx rocket-plane

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‘Sooner or later, we must expand life beyond this green and blue ball – or go extinct’

process, the industry is pushing forward the boundaries of what is humanly possible – a dream which, since Chuck Yeager, has attracted some big personalities. That’s still true today: flamboyant entrepreneur Richard Branson is behind Virgin Galactic; and Branson’s spacecraft are built by brilliant aviation engineer Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites. Another big industry player is Elon Musk, inspiration for the main character in the film Iron Man, who made his fortune as founder of PayPal. He now owns electric sportscar company Tesla Motors and spaceship maker SpaceX, which is contracted to build NASA’s new launch vehicles now government funding is tighter. Musk is less interested in space tourism; his drive comes from a firm belief that ‘sooner or later, we must expand life beyond this green and blue ball – or go extinct’. That long-term, visionary perspective was far from the minds of the eager aspiring astronauts signing up with SXC

that frosty night in London’s West End. As Champagne flowed and the beautiful people got caught up in the excitement and glamour of the occasion, I got talking to chief test pilot Harry van Hulten, a former F-16 jet fighter pilot with the Royal Netherlands Air Force and one of SXC’s founders along with Michiel Mol. ‘I’d flown the best fighter plane, learnt everything I could about flying. This was the next big step for me.’ He happily explained the intricacies of liquid-fuelled motors that can do 5,000 flights before needing to be replaced, and advanced carbon-composite construction. He also pointed out that the Lynx doesn’t have to take off and land in the same place; one day its successors may be a pricey but practical way of getting to the other side of the world in a couple of hours. But it was when he talked about standing the Lynx on its tail and pushing the engines to maximum, accelerating with four times the force of gravity, going fast enough to escape the atmosphere, that his eyes lit up and behind the calm, test pilot persona the boy who wanted to fly was still as thrilled as ever. He said quietly: ‘It’s like flying an F-16 again. But better.’ I was up there with him. Like the others in that room, I had stars in my eyes. I could see the blackness of space, the curve of the Earth, the precious fragility of our planet beneath. Space flight has been an aspiration for mankind ever since we realised that there are other worlds out there. The writer John Wyndham once called it ‘the outward urge’ – the innate human drive to constantly explore new places, define new barriers. On a frosty night in London, I watched four people sign up to break the final frontier. The temptation to join them remains almost irresistible. www.spacexc.com

Left: to boldly go. Nausea pills at the ready for zero gravity, courtesy of Virgin Galactic

IMAGES © GETTY

ELON MUSK FOUNDER TESLA MOTORS

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09/03/2012 12:16

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GAME PLAN Royal Malewane, in the heart of the South African wilderness, is the private reserve that redefined the luxury safari, says Rory Ross

IN HIS BOOK The Art of Tracking: the Origin of Science, the celebrated tracker and teacher Louis Liebenberg propounded the theory that learning to track wild animals was a crucial development in the evolution of early man. He argued that the intellectual processes involved in following an animal’s spoor were the earliest foundations of mathematics and science. And since competing with faster, stronger animals with the brain instead of the body was key to our success and development as a species, tracking could be thought of as the activity that led us out of central and southern Africa – and subsequently into such diverse areas as modernism, free jazz, quantum mechanics and efficient market theory. Liebenberg’s work has since spawned a revival in the art of tracking in southern Africa. But what is tracking? It is more than simply a question of identifying a set of

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Below: Malewane owners Liz and Phil Biden; Phil handles the money, Liz does the decorating. Right and below: the magnificent veldt and its inhabitants

footprints and working out their author. By reading various clues as if they were a forensic trail, and by adding a bit of imagination and a generous dash of gut feeling, a tracker can come up with a detailed view of where animals are roaming, congregating, eating, sleeping and reproducing, and what their routines and relationships are like. The seat of tracking today is the Royal Malewane game lodge on the western fringe of the Kruger National Park in South Africa, a 19,485km2 wilderness located near the border with Mozambique. Royal Malewane is the creation of Liz and Phil Biden, and a more charming and unassuming couple you will not find. Phil made his pile from banking and private equity; Liz takes care of the design, decoration and management of the property. ‘I have the money, Liz has the brains,’ jokes Phil. When the Bidens unveiled Royal Malewane in 1999 they, perhaps unwittingly, pioneered the concept of luxury private accommodation. ‘You can’t just walk in off the street,’ says Liz. ‘It is like living in a private home. Everything here is yours. You don’t pay for a beer or a glass of wine. That’s the sort of place I like to go on holiday.’ The property comprises a main lodge (with eight suites) and a separate ultraprivate six-bedroom villa located some 10 minutes away by 4x4 called Africa House, where the Bidens themselves stay when on holiday. The theme of luxury private accommodation has been picked up by other exclusive lodges, notably Kirk Lazarus’s Molori Lodge in Madikwe game reserve near the border with Botswana some 400km east of Kruger.

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Bottom: resident trackers Juan Pinot and Wilson Masiya can show you how to trail animals by their spoor

‘Royal Malewane is intended as a place where you can experience animals in their natural habitats’ Royal Malewane is located in Thornybush, a private 30,000-acre game reserve set in woodland savannah on Kruger’s south-west fringe. Some safari snobs turn their noses up at Kruger and its private reserves as being too easy and convenient. But whatever the local scenery may lack in epic panoramic sweeps that you find in Botswana and the Zambezi Valley, it more than makes up for with accessible, wellorganised safaris with creature comforts and hot-and-cold running everything. The Bidens have recently added two further South African properties to their portfolio: the sumptuous La Résidence in the wineland region of Franschhoek, and Birkenhead House which overlooks Walker Bay outside Hermanus, where, according to Liz, ‘for five months of the year you can watch whales from your bed. From our

three properties, we can offer a bush safari, a beach safari and a wine safari. They differ in design and purpose, but they share common values and ethos. Royal Malewane and Birkenhead are intended as places where you can experience the animals in their natural habitats.’ Actually, the Royal Malewane game lodge is an excellent place to do some tracking of an altogether different ethological and anthropological nature. A number of alpha primates treat this as their wateringhole-from-watering-hole. They include Mr and Mrs Bono, Richard Gere, Nicolas and Carla Sarkozy, and Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. I’d hate to be the person who had to sort out the pecking order among that lot. However, they all have to make way for Sir Elton John and David Furnish for whom this is ‘their second home’ and who check into the Royal Suite every year. Of course, Royal Malewane offers the last word in luxury, comfort and service, with a private airstrip, spa, gym, pools and eclectic interiors tossed together in exquisite style by Liz Biden herself – where else could you see in one eyeful African beaded necklaces, Japanese screens, British botanical prints and Chinese porcelain? Guests can relax among vibrant colours, ample space, private villas, Michelin-grade cuisine and impeccable service. Privacy and discretion are assured. As the blurb points out: ‘Guests wishing to arrive incognito may request the use of a helicopter or executive jet.’ Royal Malewane’s resident tracking team comprises Juan Pinot and Wilson Masiya. Johannesburg-born Pinto began tracking straight after leaving Jeppe High School ( Johannesburg’s oldest public

school). He helped the Bidens create Royal Malewane. Taught by his father, this 61-year-old Mozambiquan from the Shangaan tribe (whose ancestral lands covered the southern part of the Kruger) became head tracker of Thornybush Game Reserve in 1993 and soon afterwards obtained the master tracker qualification. Indeed, there is no harder creature to track down in South Africa than a tracker: Wilson Masiya is the only working master tracker left. There have only ever been five. While the majority of guests at Royal Malewane want to see the Big Six (‘We do both black and white rhino,’ says Phil Biden), the trend among sophisticated guests is to enjoy a deeper, richer wildlife experience. This you get from tracking. Tracking teaches observation, imagination, speculation and humility. As Liebenberg would argue, to track intelligently is to start to think like the animal, to step outside yourself, to start to imagine, to think like a scientist. I was practically stepping outside myself – but with trepidation. Tracking on foot is a totally different experience to

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P R I VAT E S C A P E

trundling about the bush in a 4x4. It exposes you to the life-death reality from which our social and technological artifice shields us. The desire to experience this is strong and primal. If you ever want to get an inkling of the forces that shape us on the most basic psychoneural level, just climb down off your 4x4 in the bush. Your mind soon starts racing. What if a cheetah races up behind me? What if a lion pounced? Is that a rock or a puff adder? It is said if you can see two per cent of what sees you, you’re doing well. Animals can smell you too. A hyena can detect a menstruating woman from 2km away. You pick up such fascinating wildlife prattle while out in the bush. Cheetah can hit 125kmph but only for 250m. Their feet cannot move left or right so if you see one coming, just step aside; they can’t turn corners, and have to steer with their tails. Cheetah chase from behind; lion, from the side. Antelope can hit 90kmph, but have poor acceleration, so they get caught. Is that a baby crying? No, a jackal. Are wildebeest dangerous? Only if you choke on a piece of fillet. Ostriches make excellent burglar alarms: it is far harder to poison an ostrich than a guard dog. Tracking giraffe is easy, just look up.

the Kruger National Park. Guests can join in. ‘The school is the catalyst for experts like Wilson Masiya to pass on their knowledge,’ says Liz. ‘It will be a hub for the training and evaluating of trackers in the lowveld.’ Man is not ideally adapted to bush life. He can’t run, smell, see, hear, fly or jump particularly well. But he can use his head better than most animals, and he learnt to do so while a hunter-gatherer here in the African bush. It is a fitting tribute then that some of the most successful of the species should return here to be reminded. And I’m sure that the Bidens cannot help smiling at the delicious irony that a place whose privacy and exclusivity attracts such luminaries is also dedicated to upholding the art of tracking down elusive wildlife. www.royalmalewane.com

Above: colonialstyle luxury courtesy of Royal Malewane. Left: how to sneak up on a giraffe: slowly zigzag towards it while pretending to ignore it

IMAGE © GETTY

Play grandmother’s footsteps to approach one: slowly zigzag towards the giraffe while pretending to ignore it. Lions are the bush celebrities; they always have a tail of fans. They are the only animal who can really relax; everything else is trying to stay alive. Rhino? The most common view is head down, grazing. They only eat grass. The second most common view is head down, charging. Black rhino tend to be more aggressive than white, but white kill more people being twice the size. Black rhino is a case of short-man syndrome. But why do rhino get so mad when they have such thick skins? The Bidens recently entered into a collaboration with Louis Liebenberg to create the Wilson Masiya Tracking School to honour their master tracker. It is located just off the Orpen Gate Road to

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WO ESTEEMED GERMAN manufacturers, BRABUS and Stockinger, have come together to create a uniquely elegant highsecurity safe. The BRABUS SV12 safe marries market-leading technology with dynamic design for an extravagant and chic security solution. BRABUS SV12 harks back to the powerful BRABUS 800 SV12 auto engines, but also represents the 12 builtin watch-winder devices, designed to keep automatic watches in perfect time. The fine leather lining, quilted in red yarn, combine with carbon and chrome elements and a black high-gloss finish for a sleek and sporty aesthetic. The BRABUS SV12 safe offers a usable space volume of 183 litres and exterior dimensions of 127cm x 67cm x 55cm. The automatic digital input system Stocktronic, installed at an ergonomically correct height, ensures that it is both safe and easy to use. Owners are now able to keep exquisite and valuable objects in a fitting environment within their own home, rescuing them from a dull existence within in-wall lockers, basement hideaways and bank vaults. It’s time to scrap the commonly used anti-theft strategy of ‘hide and seek’ – and turn instead to the complete invincibility of the BRABUS SV12. +49 89 75 90 58 28, www.stockinger.com

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PROMOTION

B E YO N D T H E C U T T I N G E D G E Breakthrough laser cataract surgery at the London Eye Hospital offers sight – without the sore eyes

Mr Bobby Qureshi performed the UK’s first bladeless femtosecond laser cataract surgery at the London Eye Hospital on Harley Street REVOLUTIONARY CATARACT treatment has just been launched at the London Eye Hospital on Harley Street. Offering safer, more accurate and less invasive treatment for cataracts – which affect around two-thirds of people over the age of 60 – the new surgical procedure uses a computer-guided laser to dissolve the cataract. For many years, cataracts have been regarded as an unavoidable and unpleasant side-effect of ageing. Current techniques for cataract removal, which utilise high-frequency ultrasound to achieve “phacoemulsification”, nevertheless require a 3mm incision with a blade. Where the London Eye Hospital differs from this treatment is in the microscopic detail of the procedure. Using a femtosecond cataract laser, surgeons create a 3D model of the eye at close to micron levels of accuracy. Laser pulses which last one quadrillionth of a second then dissolve the cataract and also create a tiny incision through which to remove it – all without needles, a blade or any discomfort. Th is new approach to cataract surgery reduces the risk of complications such as damage to the fi ne

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membrane surrounding the lens; plus the risk of infection is lower because the incision is so small. Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon Mr Bobby Qureshi became the fi rst surgeon in the UK to use a femtosecond laser for cataract treatment in August 2011, and is the most experienced laser cataract surgeon in the UK. To cater to growing demand, the London Eye Hospital has opened a purpose-built operating suite with a femtosecond cataract laser. One of Mr Qureshi’s patients at the London Eye Hospital, Patricia Paul, had light adjustable lens surgery and was delighted by the results. ‘Not only was my procedure a complete success, but Mr Qureshi was an absolute pleasure to work with,’ Patricia reports. ‘He always took the time to explain everything, and was never in a rush. I now have the best vision that I’ve ever had. It’s amazing how sharp and colourful everything looks.’ For further information please contact: London Eye Hospital, 8-10 Harley Street, W1G 9PF +44 (0)20 7060 2602, admin@londoneyehospital.com, www.londoneyehospital.com

Mr Bobby Qureshi, BSc MBBS FRCS (Ophth.) Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon and Medical Director at the London Eye Hospital

27/02/2012 14:33

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P R I VATA I R

P R I VA T A I R Offering jet charter and private airline services, PrivatAir has been a leader in the f ield of luxury aviation for more than three decades

PrivatAir – for high flyers PRIVATAIR HAS BEEN at the forefront of private aviation for over 30 years, providing the world’s most demanding travellers with a comprehensive range of capabilities, delivered to the very highest standards of safety and personal service. Since its creation in 1977, the company has grown from being the corporate aircraft fleet of the Latsis Group, a global conglomerate, to a world-renowned full-service commercial aviation operator. Today, PrivatAir is one of the private aviation industry’s longest-standing

and most prestigious operators. Its global operations include both jet charter and private airline services.

50-seat VIP-configured airliner for a three-week, round-the-world trip, PrivatAir offers unrivalled international coverage, sourcing the best aircraft to match each passenger’s individual requirements. As such, our services are regularly sought by governments, royalty, celebrities and business executives the world over.

P R I VAT E C H A R T E R

PrivatAir’s charter services enable you to travel in total privacy, into and out of more than 5,000 airports around the world. For over 30 years, the company has set the industry standard in operating aircraft of the highest quality and providing outstanding levels of service to our customers. Whether it’s chartering a Beechcraft 200 for a weekend family shopping break, or a

P R I VAT E A I R L I N E S E RV I C E S

After pioneering the all-businessclass concept in 2002, PrivatAir now operates flights on behalf of a select number of commercial airlines who wish to offer their customers an exclusive service on key routes. PrivatAir also provides regularly scheduled corporate shuttle flights for companies that frequently need to send their employees or clients to specific destinations.

S U P E R I O R SA F E T Y AND SECURITY

We operate to the most stringent standards of safety and security, far exceeding industry requirements. In 1998, PrivatAir became Europe’s first airline whose quality system fulfilled the IS0 9002 certification standards for all its services; six years later we were the first business aviation company awarded the prestigious IOSA certification, the first internationally recognised audit standards for safety. The company has also been awarded ETOPS 180 minutes and FAA 129 Foreign Carrier approval, allowing us to offer the most direct routes across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and unlimited operations to the US. PrivatAir is still one of only a handful of ad hoc commercial charter operators in the world with all these approvals.

Eighty-Seven

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A highlight of the tour: whale watching in Cabo San Lucas

P R I VATA I R

Experience the sights, sounds and colour of Central America and the Caribbean on a luxury three-week tour via private jet

Eighty-Eight

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hen it comes to exclusive travel, it pays to book with a company who understand that it’s the smallest details that can make the biggest impact. Swiss luxury holiday specialists Exklusiv Reisen, set up by Josiane Simeoni and Werner Widmoser in 2003, are the experts in the field. And when they create tailor-made trips – such as their three-week escape to the Azores, Mexico and the Caribbean earlier this year – for their clients, they look for excellence and experience in all their service providers. Simeoni and Widmoser recognise that flying via a private jet is the epitome of luxury travel. And because their clients demand the very best, they selected PrivatAir’s business class BBJ for this year’s trip. ‘We chose to work with PrivatAir again because they have an excellent team – both operations and in the office – and they have the best planes,’ says Simeoni. ‘They have the best team, offer the best experience and have superb contacts around the world.’ The ambitious trip in January took 27 discerning travellers to four different countries in 21 days, calling at Terceira in the Azores; Querétaro, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Cabo San Lucas, Uxmal and Chichén Itzá in Mexico; Havana in Cuba; and Barbados; before flying back to Basel. ‘It takes a lot of work to plan a trip like this,’ explains Simeoni. ‘Each

IMAGE © GETTY

year we choose different parts of the world and each destination must have interesting places to visit. We prefer places that are smaller, where it’s not as easy for passengers to reach. It takes more than a year for us to get everything just right. We take care of every aspect of the holiday so the passengers don’t have to worry about a thing. We book hotels, organise the tours, plan menus for lunch and dinner. From the moment our clients hand over their luggage at Basel airport, all the stress and worry of travelling disappears. It’s a very comfortable way to travel.’

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P R I VATA I R

For PrivatAir, organising a three-week journey such as this is a challenge but, as private charter sales director Nathalie Beuchard explains: ‘This is what PrivatAir does – and we do it very well. Our motto is Service d’Excellence, and we strive to offer this to all our clients. No demand is too big or too small.’ As soon as Exklusiv Reisen confirmed the trip, PrivatAir began its meticulous planning – from fine-tuning the routes, the landing permissions, security and immigration, the catering – and all aspects received Exklusiv Reisen’s seal of approval beforehand. ‘There’s a lot of preparation before the flight, especially for the inflight director,’ says Beuchard, ‘and during the flight we have to make sure that everything is perfect so that we give the best service possible.’ There’s an immense amount of pressure on the inflight director, but

PrivatAir’s team for the three-week trip

‘It is a lot of work to plan a trip like this. We plan for more than a year to get everything just right ’ this trip’s IFD, Susanne Heger, says it’s all down to precise planning – and being ready to think on your feet. ‘You have to think in advance at every step,’ she says. ‘We started planning the inflight menus in December, but during the trip we realised we’d had so much fish in the hotels, we were worried the clients were getting tired of it, so we decided to swap some of the meals around. Luckily we work with the best caterers in the world who know exactly where we’re coming from and try their hardest to assist.’ Heger felt that the standards offered by the catering team in Cuba weren’t up to scratch, so she decided to contact one of the best restaurants in the city. Going with a restaurant rather than an airline catering company meant more work plating up food inflight, but Heger was adamant that passenger satisfaction was paramount. ‘The quality was so much higher than we could have otherwise received.’ For the Exklusiv Reisen passengers, this extraordinary trip was the holiday of a lifetime. For PrivatAir’s inflight team, it was just another day at work. ‘We did get a little bit of time to enjoy the destinations,’ says Heger. ‘But we had to make sure absolutely everything was done as efficiently as possible first. It was hard work. Our longest journey was

from the Azores to Mexico, which took just under 11 hours. We had to prepare lunch and a snack, but we also had canapés and drinks before take-off. We started work about four hours before the flight and then stayed aboard for about three hours afterwards.’ For Heger and her team, it’s all about going that extra mile – something that didn’t go unnoticed by Exklusiv Reisen. ‘I know our clients appreciated the high-quality service on board,’ says Simeoni. ‘For them it’s such a special and unusual way to travel.’ The cabin crew worked tirelessly, making sure every aspect of the trip featured an unexpected element of local colour – and a personal touch. ‘We bought ribbons in the colours of the Mexican flag to brighten up the steps up to the aircraft, purchased fresh flowers for the interior of the cabin and brought in local exotic fruits for our fruit basket,’ says Heger. ‘We’d also go out in

each destination and buy souvenirs for the passengers. In Mexico there was this delicious local cake that we thought would give something extra-special to the meal trays, so we bought that for everyone.’ Getting to know and understand each of the passengers and their needs was vital too. ‘These clients can afford anything, so it’s the small details that mean a lot to them. One gentleman adored the Basler Läckerli [a biscuit from Basel], so we served it to him every flight. We also had these delicate Champagne glasses, but they were too fragile for some of the older passengers. They asked if we could give them simpler glasses for the next service, and when we remembered, they were happy. We also had Swiss cheese, Sprüngli chocolate, truffles and pralines. And in Cuba, when I realised there was a flight coming in from Frankfurt while we were there, I used my contacts to get some German newspapers and magazines for the passengers. These small things, these little reminders of home, made all the difference for them.’ After spending three weeks together, it’s no surprise that the passengers bonded with the PrivatAir team – the two pilots, one engineer and four-cabin crew. So much so that the crew were often invited along to some of the planned excursions – including whale watching in Cabo San Lucas and a Hemingway-themed tour in Havana. ‘The whale watching was absolutely incredible,’ says Heger. ‘It was a special memory I’ll always treasure.’ And what about the passengers who went on this trip? ‘Most of them are retired – over 60. They are well-respected businessmen and women – doctors, lawyers, CEOs. We get many repeat bookings and a lot of our clients have become good friends,’ says Simeoni. They stayed at some of the most exclusive hotels in the world, including the Capella Pedregal in Cabo San Lucas and Sandy Lane in Barbados. These are sophisticated travellers who, when they put their trust in Exklusiv Reisen and PrivatAir, expect the best. ‘They don’t want to queue for their luggage nor mingle with other passengers at security. PrivatAir organise special immigration desks just for us, and they fly us into private jet terminals.’ Exklusiv Reisen celebrates its 10th anniversary next year and, together with PrivatAir, is planning an even bigger and better trip. ‘For 2013 we have an exceptional experience we’re working on,’ says Simeoni. ‘We’ll be travelling to Agra, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Ayers Rock, Maui and Las Vegas.’ This trip of a lifetime will run from 23 March to 12 April. www.exklusivreisen.ch

Ninety

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Four generations of Cellar Masters have crafted twelve hundred eaux-de-vie to establish Louis XIII as the most prestigious spirit on Earth. A closely guarded secret since 1874.

ONE CENTURY IN A BOTTLE

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